The Danger in Starting a Fire
by realfriends13
Summary: It all starts one rainy September day. Gary Smith, just released from Happy Volts, has returned to Bullworth Academy. But it seems there's something else coming to Bullworth. [ Contains Left 4 Dead style zombies. ]
1. Overdrive

"Sir, we need you to sign off on the papers for patient Smith..."

He turned, his lab coat flying around him as he did. He glared at his assistant, a measly girl who attended the academy during the school year, but was currently working part-time as a secretary at Happy Volts. She stood idly, holding a clipboard, trying to keep her eyes trained on him rather than the corpse he'd been working on.

"Yes… yes," he agreed, approaching the girl, ignoring her flinch and the steps she took to get away from him. He grabbed the clipboard from her, lazily scrawling out his signature at the bottom where indicated, before tossing the pen to her and turning back to his work.

"Leave me now, girl. Away with you!"

She shot out instantly, reminding him of a startled fly. Regardless, he paid no mind to her. He had much more pressing matters.

Lowering the syringe to his patient's arm, he inserted it and pressed in the substance, holding his breath as he waited.

Nothing changed.

Nothing changed, with his first human experiment. Frustrated, he withdrew the syringe and launched it across the room, sickened by the mere sight of it. He'd have to start all over again; with insects, deer, rodents, before building up to a human. Sinking to the floor, he held his head, overwhelmed. He'd worked so hard to get to this point…

He froze when he heard the first curious, questioning sniff. Followed by a growl, and then a low hiss. Looking up, he broke out into a beam when he saw his creation rising, looking around, exploring the foreign environment.

 _Life_.

The creature's growl of anger was drowned out by his crazed laughter. He'd _done it_.


	2. All Apologies

"We _will_ be in touch with the asylum director, boy."

The words rung in Gary's head uselessly. Said to him by none other than the headmaster, complete with a raise of his eyebrow and a glance to the door. An embedded _watch yourself_ , which honestly wasn't exactly necessary. Gary had decided to get back on his meds exactly half a millisecond after he fell through that skylight. He still had the scar from it, a slanting slash covering his back, sprinkled with little x's. It didn't take a genius to figure out how he'd gotten to that point. Taking a pill every morning was hardly a price to pay.

He was a week late to the term. School had started last Tuesday, back when Gary was still sitting in his cell, the toilet overflowing with his own waste considering it'd clogged three days prior, wondering what day it was and if he'd ever get out. As a result, he'd been given a single dorm; a shitty thing located on the new second floor of the dorm, directly beside the bathroom. He could hear kids flushing their crap and drugs and used condoms clear as day. Lovely.

There wasn't a lot for him to unpack. He never had that much clothes to begin with, and he hadn't been allowed to take them with him into Happy Volts, anyways. They'd been thrown into a black trash bag that currently sat inside the wardrobe in his dorm. He'd been given the same style uniform as last year, but not the same one. The old one was ruined by the blood.

Only one thing remained for Gary to do, and that was head to his class. He'd missed the morning class—though surely it'd just been a lot of 'welcome back' bullshit—as well as the lunch period. He'd already memorized the schedule and knew he'd be heading to English class with the drunk, Galloway. The drunk who wasn't a drunk anymore because he was engaged to the Art teacher.

Gary didn't remember arriving to the classroom; the new medicine had that effect on him. He tended to black out and forget things, including the walk from his bedroom to the school. He felt his head spinning as he handed Galloway one of the many copies of Crabblesnitch's note ( _watch the Smith boy, if he behaves oddly at any point throughout the year send him straight to me_ ) and looked out to see who his idiot classmates would be for the year.

"Hell no, what the fuck are _you_ doing back here?" Hopkins demanded, standing and glaring accusingly at Gary. His fists had slammed down onto the desk. Beside him was a girl with bright hair that Gary could barely recognize, she'd changed so much. Zoe Taylor. Who let her back in here?

He wondered for a moment what the hell was Hopkins' problem, before flashing back to last year. Oh yeah. Gary supposed James might still be a little peeved off about the whole sort of trying to kill him on the school roof. He'd always been so sensitive.

"Now, Jimmy, if Dr. Crabblesnitch welcomed Gary back, you can too. Please sit back down," Galloway instructed, and to Gary's surprise, James obliged. "Gary, if you'd take a seat beside Peter, please."

Gary turned his head, slowly, minding the pounding, and when he blinked he was seated beside Femme Boy. He glanced at him, studying him. There was something different about him. He stood straight, his eyes trained forward. He wasn't going to look at Gary if his life depended on it.

"Peter," Gary muttered, feeling as if he was floating away. It caught Petey by surprise, he knew it did—he heard the soft gasp and the gentle clatter as Petey jumped. "At ease," Gary assured, feeling as his mind clocked out of his body.

* * *

"How could you let him back here? He tried to _kill me!_ He kept you _hostage in your own office!_ "

The headmaster's office had been tense and silent when Jimmy had made his case to him, arguing for the immediate removal of Gary Smith from the premises. But the headmaster had not budged on the matter, insisting that if the asylum director had determined Gary to no longer be a threat to the school, he was welcome back. A legal matter, and though he appreciated James' assistance in the school's time of need, Dr. Crabblesnitch had assured him that he knew what he was doing and to please try and enjoy his schoolyear.

Jimmy, however, felt differently on this matter, and so he argued it as he sat with his girlfriend, Zoe, and best friends, Pete and Russell.

"He's just back to cause more trouble," Pete muttered, poking around the chicken in his watery ketchup with his fork. He still couldn't shake the discomfort he'd felt the previous day after Gary had been assigned the seat directly beside him.

Zoe, who'd been unusually quiet almost the entire lunch period, offered a shrug. "I don't know. He seems almost dead, to be honest. They've loaded him up on the meds, it's obvious."

This caused a silence to spread among the four of them. Russell, who'd been shoveling his plate of Chicken - n - Ketchup into his mouth paused for a moment, studying Zoe carefully, confusion filling his brown eyes.

"Exactly. All the more reason for him to stop taking them again," Jimmy argued, shaking his head in frustration. "It's only a matter of time before he loses his shit again and starts trying to take somebody out."

None of the other three responded to this, and Jimmy turned to find the reason. Speak of the devil. Gary stood behind Jimmy, holding a tray of soupy ketchup and moldy chicken, his eyes sunken into his head.

"Can I sit with you guys?" he asked, his voice emotionless. "It's that or eat in the bathroom."

Jimmy, Pete, and Russell's protests were silenced immediately by Zoe's voice, welcoming Gary. "Yeah, we don't mind," she lied, casting a quick glance to the other three, urging them to not contradict her.

It was all the same to Gary, who took a seat and slumped, staring at his meal with sad eyes. Zoe studied him, surprised. He had changed drastically since she'd been away from the academy.

"So, Gary," Jimmy began, eyeing him suspiciously, "who decided to let you back in here?"

He received a sharp elbow to the gut, courtesy of Zoe at that comment, but Gary didn't seem to hear it. Instead he looked up at Pete, staring him straight in the eyes. The smaller boy found himself intimidated, scared. A familiar feeling that he felt the previous year bubbled up inside him. Amazing that even now, he was terrified of Gary Smith.

"I'm sorry," Gary said simply, letting out a sigh. Then, he turned to Jimmy, looking him in the eyes before shifting them elsewhere. "You too. I'm sorry."

With that he stood, leaving his tray, and exited the cafeteria.

Jimmy stared after him, speechless. It was the first time he'd ever heard Gary apologize sincerely.


	3. That Girl (She's Such a Bitch)

Ted Thompson let out a soft groan as he eyed the grade at the top of his biology test. In the right-hand corner, written in striking red ink, was a large 6/40, followed by a scratchy, messy ' _see me!_ ' next to where he'd so confidently written his name the day before.

From behind him, he heard that sad, fat fuck Algernon Papadopoulos snickering, and he knew in an instant that the nerdling had seen his test grade and was laughing about it. Clearly feeling better about himself for knowing a couple useless facts about dead shit. Irritated, Ted waited a few moments for the loser to gather his things and stroll past. When he did, Ted stuck his foot out, watching as Pee Stain tripped over it, spilling out the contents of his unzipped nerd purse. Ted grinned proudly as the other students around them burst into laughter, save for a couple of the other astronomy vest virgins.

"Barf knocker!" Fatty growled at Ted, holding up one jiggling fist to him after he'd helped the other one up. The classroom was mostly empty at this point, save for a couple students who'd caught wind of Fatty's brave (yet so, so stupid) act, and were hanging by the door just to see what would happen.

"Sniff my jockstrap, punk!" Ted snarled back, standing up so that he was towering over Fatty, and getting into his face. He held his breath, careful not to breathe in the foul odor that came off Fatty's skin. He couldn't understand why the loser wouldn't just take a shower.

Fatty withdrew into himself instantly, making a face that appeared as though he had literally just shat himself in fear. Pee Stain grabbed his loyal friend's arm, and together they ran for the door, barely able to squeeze out of it.

" _Theodore_ …" Came the low, warning voice of Dr. Slawter. Ted's attention was drawn to him. _See me_. Oh, right. He'd forgotten about that minor inconvenience for a moment.

Taking a deep breath, Ted strode up to Dr. Slawter's desk, determined not to show any sort of hesitation or insecurity. He flashed Slawter a winning smile, the very same he gave college scouts, and set his forearms on the doctor's desk, leaning forward. "What's up, doc?"

Slawter let out a long, annoyed sigh, pinching the bridge of his nose and allowing his eyes to flutter shut. He knew what the Thompson boy was really all about, and he really was not interested in dealing with the boy's nonsense. In reality, the only reason he'd so much as bothered himself in adding the note to the boy's test was because Dr. Crabblesnitch had insisted on it. Theodore Thompson was considered to be a 'valuable student' of Bullworth Academy. Of course, this was merely because of the boy's promise in throwing around a _ball_ , which meant that if he were to become a famous athlete at some point in his life, it would reflect positively on the academy. Crabblesnitch had told Slawter to think of it as a retirement investment.

As a result, upon learning of Slawter's failing Thompson in his class not even a month into the new term, Crabblesnitch had offered Slawter an ultimatum. Either Thompson's grade raise—one way or another—or Slawter find a new school to teach at.

Dr. Slawter was perfectly aware of what 'one way or another' meant, and in most cases, it meant he be dishonest. But he didn't like the Thompson boy enough to go and simply gift him a C in his class. No, he wanted to make the boy suffer. And he had come up with the perfect solution, one that would make the boy suffer but not disrupt with his glorified ball tossing.

"I imagine by now you're aware of your _shockingly_ steep downhill voyage in my class, boy," Slawter said slowly, his eyes trained on Ted, studying him for any reaction he gave.

Ted remained calm, however. He'd expected something like this soon enough, and he knew how Crabblesnitch tended to go around with these things. It wouldn't be the first time that one of Ted's Fs mysteriously turned into a C, or even higher than that, in the course of two days without him even lifting a finger. "I get ya, Dr.S.," Ted replied, unable to muster a truly interested tone. How could he, when he just so blatantly didn't care? "I'm sure we can work something out…" he added, nodding towards the door.

All he needed was the old man to just agree that something would be worked out, and he'd be on his way to do something more interesting. Like, hit on cheerleaders. He _was_ single now since last year Mandy had decided to kill her popularity by letting slutty pictures be posted of her all over town. As if he'd deal with that and still be okay with her not letting him fuck her.

Slawter smiled, a rare sight. "I agree, boy," he replied, and Ted began heading off towards the door, only to be stopped by a gentle knock on it. "This is why I've arranged for you to be tutored."

 _Tutored?_

Ted spun around on his heel, staring in disbelief at the biology teacher. "You're gonna have somebody tutor me?" he repeated, his voice rising a little with irritation. The last thing Ted wanted was to be stuck with some nerd, even if it was just a daily check-in consisting of him threatening said nerd to do his homework.

"That's right," Slawter answered, unfazed by Ted's childish reaction. He had expected nothing more and nothing less of the boy; he _was_ notoriously demanding. "Come in," he called to the student behind the door.

Slowly, the door opened, revealing a thin blonde girl standing in the doorway. She wore a cheerleading uniform on her body. She stopped once she saw who was inside with Dr. Slawter, a small 'meep' escaping her lips.

"Christi," Ted smiled, using the nickname Mandy used for her. Christine Summers was Mandy's best friend. Ted didn't know much about her other than that she was Mandy's best friend, the 'co-captain' (he used that term loosely) of the cheer squad, and that she did pretty much anything that Mandy said. She was pretty hot, too—and quiet. He was pretty sure she was scared of him. All the better. If Slawter thought _Christine_ was going to force Ted to do _homework_ , he had another thing coming.

Slawter nodded to Christine, signaling for her to enter the classroom instead of remain standing in the doorway uselessly. She obliged immediately, and Ted had to keep from rolling his eyes. Forget her doing anything _Mandy_ said—Christine did anything _anyone_ said. This was going to be a piece of cake.

"Miss Summers here is one of my straight-A students. She's at the top of this class," Slawter introduced, nodding to her. Christine, in turned, stared intently at her white cheerleading shoes.

"Um, yeah," she mumbled simply.

"And she has agreed to tutor you daily, seeing as both of your schedules coincide," Slawter smiled, as if he'd just outsmarted Ted. It took a lot for Ted not to scoff. So cheerleading practice and football practice were at the same time. So what? There was still no _way_ one of Mandy's minions wasn't just gonna let him off the hook. Maybe he'd have to do her or something, but it wasn't as if that was a downside, either.

He smiled at that thought, another of his winning ones. "You got it, Mr. S.," he replied, adding in a quick wink towards the cheerleader. "I'm just gonna head out now…"

"To the library," Dr. Slwater interrupted, raising an eyebrow at Ted and Christine, who was still staring down her shoes as if they owed her money. "To study."

Ted let out a very controlled breath, his patience beginning to wear thin. "Right," he replied, his smile tightening. He glanced at Christine, shifting the awkward smile into a flirty smirk. "C'mon, Christi," he invited, swaggering off ahead of her. Her quiet footsteps behind him confirmed she'd followed.

Deciding it would be safer to keep up appearances—at least on the first day—Ted decided it'd be alright to make the walk to the library. At least then Slawter or Crabblesnitch would hear he'd entered the library and was complying with the 'studying' bullshit. In reality, he planned to have Christine do his work for him while he texted.

She was awfully quiet during the walk to the library. On various occasions, Ted attempted to strike up a conversation with her—at first to charm her into being more willing to do his work, then just to prove to himself he could—but she'd abruptly ended each attempt with a polite, short answer that did not allow him to continue. She instead stared at the concrete the entire time, and when Ted brushed his hand against hers, she responded by placing the hand closest to him on her opposite shoulder as she were massaging it.

Eventually, he simply gave up, and they arrived at the library in utter silence. Several nerds stared at them as they walked in—most in anger, seeing as word of what had occurred in the biology room earlier had spread—but did not attempt to stop them. Christine failed to notice, seeing as her focus remained on her shoes and the ground. Ted rolled his eyes; this girl needed a good screwing to loosen her up a bit.

Her attitude changed the moment they entered the library, her head snapping up all of a sudden, and she walked ahead of him and chose a table in the center. She ignored a lustful look from Earnest Jones, instead casting him a dangerous glare before sitting down and placing her books on the table, beginning to organize them.

A little surprised but otherwise unfazed, Ted sat across her before pulling out his cell phone, opening it, and beginning to compose a text to Damon.

"Are you turning that off?"

His blue eyes tore away from the small screen to meet Christine's hazel ones. He expected her to be smiling, but her expression was far from pleased. She stared at him, clearly irritated.

Ted raised his eyebrows, letting out a small chuckle before flipping his phone shut. He placed it on the opposite side of the table, dangerously close to her breast to intimidate her. Rather, she did not move, her eyes still focused on his.

"It's away," he replied.

Christine offered no further reply, instead taking out her notes and beginning to scan over them. "So, we're not that into the unit so catching you up shouldn't be too hard. We're on Animal Behavior, still. You know the difference between taxis and kinesis, right?"

He stared incredulously at her, unable to believe that she was actually trying to _teach_ him.

She did not take note of this. Christine let out a sigh, muttering a quick 'oh boy' under her breath. "That's fine. I guess we can just start from the way beginning," she said, flipping to her earlier notes.

It was Ted's turn to sigh. He reached out, placing a hand on the one she was using to flip through her notebook, stopping her. "It's really sweet of you to try to actually tutor me, Christine, but I gotta tell you how this works," he explained to her, his voice condescending and patronizing. "I don't do anything. You do my work for me, and then you give it to me. Of course, you're not a loser or anything, so I'm sure I can do something in return for you…" he said, his eyes sliding down to the cleavage created by her uniform shirt.

She froze, stunned, and for a moment he thought it worked. "I-..." she said, at a loss for words, her cheeks going pink. She looked down, shutting her eyes, taking a deep breath. "Sorry. I either raise your grade honestly or I fail this class. And if you're planning on just walking away, then I'll tell Slawter and he'll just fail you and I walk away, no problem. Open your book. Start reading."

With that, she shoved her notes towards him, catching Ted off guard. He found himself at a loss for words, unable to believe that he'd been turned down. She seriously cared more about a grade than hooking up with the _captain of the football team_?

He frowned, deciding she wasn't as hot as he'd originally thought. Unable to think of anything else to do, he flipped open his textbook and started reading the bullshit about animal behavior.

Bitch.


End file.
